FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contacts:
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 410-576-7009
BALTIMORE, MD – Attorney General Anthony G. Brown today announced a
$1,289,679 settlement with Elkton SNF, LLC and Elkton Health Holdco, LLC d/b/a Elkton
Nursing and Rehabilitation Center (Elkton) to settle allegations that the entities violated the
Maryland False Health Claims Act by providing substandard care to residents at Elkton Nursing
and Rehabilitation Center.
The facility came to the office’s attention in 2022 after a concerned citizen contacted the
Medicaid Fraud and Vulnerable Victims Unit (MFVVU) with information. The settlement
includes $400,679 paid by Elkton to fund a quality improvement plan in which the Office of
Attorney General will oversee the facility for three years through regular performance
evaluations by a third-party monitoring company. It also includes $889,000 in restitution to the
state.
“Every Marylander deserves compassion, dignity, and respect, including our most vulnerable
residents who rely on nursing facilities like Elkton,” said Attorney General Brown. “This
action serves as a warning that my Office will not stand by while nursing facilities fail to provide
quality care to those who need it most.”
Today’s announcement marks the culmination of the investigative efforts by MFVVU including:
- Interviews of former staff and residents;
- Review of survey reports from the Office of Health Care Quality documenting myriad
deficiencies;
- Analyzing facility staffing levels, personnel, and resident census documents; and
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- Obtaining and reviewing resident medical records.
These foundational endeavors were later expanded to incorporate a new “strike force” approach
in which the MFVVU partnered with the Maryland’s Department of Human Services, Office of
Adult Services, Adult Protective Services Program, and the State Long-Term Care Ombudsman
to create a unified response to systemic failures in long-term care, employing unannounced visits
to Maryland facilities to quickly assess and respond to the needs of residents.
The investigation uncovered:
- Significant understaffing;
- Serious wound care deficiencies;
- Regulatory violations compromising patient care;
- Numerous preventable falls;
- Avoidable nutritional and hydration deficits; and
- Failures to respond to residents’ change in condition.
The MFVVU determined that these deficiencies were a signal that the Medicaid recipients
residing at the Elkton facility were receiving such substandard care that taxpayers, who paid for
the care through the Medicaid program, were being defrauded. To ensure that the care at the
facility improves, the MFVVU insisted on the quality improvement agreement as part of the
monetary settlement. The quality improvement agreement allows the state to monitor relevant
facets of the facility’s day-to-day operations on a regular basis, through the third-party
monitoring activities and unfettered access to corporate documents, medical files, and staff at the
facility. Where continuing problems are uncovered, the facility must make improvements or risk
further legal action.
In making today’s announcement, the Attorney General thanked his Medicaid Fraud and
Vulnerable Victims Unit, particularly Unit Director Zak Shirley; Assistant Attorney General
Louise Lock; Investigators Carl Stambaugh, Michael Glenn, and Antonnio Hopson; and Fraud
Analyst David Minzer for their work on the case. Attorney General Brown also thanked the
Maryland Department of Human Services and the Maryland Department of Aging for their
coordinated efforts in this matter.
The Maryland Office of the Attorney General, Medicaid Fraud and Vulnerable Victims Unit
receives 75 percent of its funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
under a grant award totaling $6,845,828 for Federal fiscal year (FY) 2025. The remaining 25
percent, totaling $2,281,939 for FY 2025, is funded by the State of Maryland.
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